How to Assemble a Mozart CD Collection

You don’t have to be a classical music buff to be able to hum a handful of famous tunes by Mozart. Everyone knows the opening theme from “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” the “Turkish Rondo” and an aria or two from “The Magic Flute.” But what if you’re familiar with a few Mozart melodies but don’t know which pieces they come from? Do you want to build a Mozart music collection but don’t know where to start? Here are a few ideas on how to put together a great Mozart collection.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Several hundred dollars
• Passion for classical music

1. Shop for recordings online, or at a discount bookstore or music store like Half-Price Books. If you go to a highbrow record store that specializes in classical music, you might find a better selection but you’ll most likely end up paying top dollar.

2. Mozart’s final seven symphonies (Nos. 35 through 41) are all regarded as works of exceptional quality. Of these, the three that no Mozart collection should be without are No. 35 in D (nicknamed the “Haffner”), No. 40 in G Minor, and No. 41 in C (the “Jupiter”).

3. Mozart wrote 27 concertos for piano and orchestra. Of these, No. 20 in D Minor, No. 21 in C (“Elvira Madigan”) and No. 27 in B-flat should be mainstays in your collection.

4. Among the many brilliant concertos Mozart wrote for other instruments, I think the two essential recordings are the Violin Concerto No. 5 in A and the Clarinet Concerto in A (with its ethereal, unforgettable Adagio movement.)

5. Mozart penned huge quantities of excellent chamber music. In this genre, the must-haves include the String Quartet No. 21 in D, the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A, and the Serenade for Strings in G, better known as “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.”

6. Opera is probably the single area in which Mozart had the greatest historical influence, and certainly his many masterpieces in this genre still form the core of today’s standard operatic repertoire. Among his immortal operas, “The Magic Flute” is certainly the most beloved, but “The Marriage of Figaro” and “Don Giovanni” are also essential to any Mozart CD collection.

7. Mozart also wrote many religious choral-orchestral works. Among these, the two finest are the famous Requiem Mass in D Minor (left unfinished upon the composer’s death in 1791 and completed by one of his students) and the elegant, soaring (and also unfinished) Mass in C Minor, nicknamed “The Great.”